In Russia, the responsibility for control and protection of the environment is given to all levels of the legislative authorities - from the Duma to local municipalities; an executive power is also distributed from the federal to the regional level.
Legislative authorities develop the legal acts, directed towards the improvement of the ecological situation, based on their own initiative or input from the executive branch. Overall, all Russian active federal laws about protection of the environment comply with the respective international conventions, including the Law of the Sea, that was ratified in 1984.
Since 2008, The Ministry of natural resources and ecology has become the single responsible federal organ with executive power that develops normative acts, describes maximum-allowed levels of pollution and biota, and rules of control of pollution and damage estimates.
Under the umbrella of the Ministry of natural resources, there are the several organizations to carry out the nature protection function. For more information see electronic appendix on www.barentsportal.no.
